Prompting the Underrepresented
by GDYRISAA
Summary: A series of one-shots based on a variety of prompts, using some of the more underrepresented characters in the show. Shibi Aburame loves his son more than anything in the world. The night Itachi killed his lover. The reason Ebisu wears glasses. Genma cleans his room. Neji's missasigned mission. Kakashi talks about Obito. Maito Gai is heavily influenced by his parents.
1. It Took Me 15 Minutes

**Rating: K**

**Prompts: **The 64 Themes Challenge, #12 Children. Also, a self-created challenge set titled "Everyday Phrases with a Ninja Twist" in which I take everyday phrases and write them within the context that a ninja would use it.

* * *

_"It took me 15 minutes to get out of bed this morning,"_

Shibi Aburame heard the sharp cries of the child in the darkness. He tried to sit up again, and had been doing so for the last 10 minutes but found himself on the bed again, panting in pain. There was no one here, no one he could trust not to sleep like a rock anyway. He had insisted on coming home to be with Shino post-mission, and the doctors had given him a chunin who was _supposed_ to help him until he was fully recovered. From the way he had snored through the infant's cries for the past 5 minutes, he assumed this wasn't actually the case.

Giving himself one last mental shove he forced himself into an upright position, his vision blurring slightly in pain. Before he had completely recovered from this first burst of pain her stood and leaned forward, snatching up the crying child and sitting back down on the bed. His sight came back to him, and he adjusted Shino into a more comfortable position, rocking the child lightly.

"Shh," Shibi cooed to the child in the darkness. "Everything's alright. Daddy's here."


	2. Genma Cleans His Room

Genma Cleans His Room

**Rated:** K+?

**Prompt:** "The Four C Challenge", include the following words in a story of your choice:

1. Codswallop - Meaning -(nonsense)

2. Collywobbles -Meaning -(queasiness from anxiety)

3. Canoodle - Meaning - (kissy cuddliness)

4. Crapulent - Meaning - (relating to drinking alcohol)

BONUS! Include "Defenestrate" - Meaning - (to throw out a window)

* * *

Genma didn't actually clean anything, and because of that his apartment had become dangerously messy. The good news was he didn't need any booby traps to keep his abode safe. The bad news was, after a night of crapulent fun, no girl would ever agree to go past general canoodling in the alleyway outside the bar. No matter how drunk they were.

Another con of avoiding housework like the plague was the issue that came when it was his turn to host the weekly jonin poker game. Of course, all the other guys knew that his house looked like a tornado had ripped through it. He had never been close to many of the female jonin though, and despite his usually calm demeanor the thought of inviting them all into his disaster area gave him a case of the collywobbles.

Jonin women were generally picky and easily provoked to violence, they also kept their houses clean. Cleaner than Genma's apartment, that is, not that it was really saying much. He was sure to feel their wrath if he invited them in and expected them to dig through his mess to find a clean spot on the floor.

To him it was a complete load of codswallop. Ninja were usually out on missions most of the time, and rarely lived in their homes for more than a week at a time. Between missions, training, teaching, and sometimes other general duties shinobi had almost no free time. Why would anyone choose to spend that time cleaning a place they never spent time in? It was just going to get dirty. Besides, though Genma had long since forgotten what color of flooring he had, he was certain that the layer of assorted items protected his carpet from the blood and dirt stains that plagued the other jonins' apartments.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a small movement. He shuddered at the thought that Izumo and Kotetsu might have been right; his floor dirt was conglomerating into a living thing that was planning to eat him in his sleep. Maybe it was time to do some cleaning.

* * *

An hour and a half later Genma had sorted through all the clothing on his floor using a complicated system that involved sniffing the item, and then deciding whether that was just a permanent lingering smell or something that could be washed out. Then, he appraised the item for its rips and tears. If it was too ripped he threw it back onto his floor to be thrown out with the trash.

He had managed to remove anything that was molding, or ruined and put it into only 7 trash bags. However, there was still an unacceptable amount of things on the floor, which he didn't know how to clean. The good news was his floor happened to be light brown! The bad news was that it was sticky in certain places. He thought the elite kunoichi that would be arriving at his house this evening would condemn the sticky floors more than the messy one.

Looking at the clock he felt his stomach lurch when he realized there was only ten more minutes until the gang arrived, maybe twenty if he could keep the group outside until the notoriously late Copy Ninja made his way over. He would need to wipe down the floor. But first, he had to purge his home of the things on his floor. Genma scanned for somewhere he could stash the items, chewing on his senbon more vigorously than usual. His apartment was fairly small. He hardly had enough space for his own necessities, let alone- was that a thong?

The window! Genma quickly opened the window, defenestrating the remaining objects in his home and wetting one of his old shirts to wipe down the floor. While cleaning the wooden panels he found another pair of panties collecting dust underneath his bed. He grabbed it, haphazardly launching it out the window.

"GENMA-!" came the yell of what was an undoubtedly angry purple haired kunoichi. He peered out the window and sure enough, Mitarashi Anko was ripping the pair of unwashed underwear off of her head.

Maybe she would be too distracted to notice the rest of the mess?


	3. X-Ranked

AN: Part of this one is kind of a dead give-away for The Copy Ninja and His Conscience, if you read the story before the re-write started. If you start reading now then it probably won't mean much until later. You have been warned.

**Summary:** Itachi Uchiha and his lover the night of the Uchiha massacre.

**Themes:** Romance/Tragedy

**Rating: **T

**Prompts: **64 Theme Challenge, #56 the beginning is the end is the beginning. Arguably, Itachi isn't an underrepresented character, but I was inspired.

* * *

Ninja grow up quickly, and ninja born in war time grow up even more quickly than that. Most shinobi were either romantically, and usually physically, involved by the time they were 14, or they were for their entire lives. Despite being an elite ninja, Itachi Uchiha was an example of the former option.

His lover, Uchiha Egami, had always been very supportive, but never pushy. Being raised with high expectations from his parents, this was a breath of fresh air. She had long black hair that she kept in a bun with a red ribbon. Her skin was creamy, and she was about three inches shorter than him, just enough that he could kiss her easily, but still encase most of her figure with his body. Her breasts had no tan lines, unlike many of the other women he knew. They were paler than her hands and arms, and that meant that nobody else had seen them. He liked it that way.

It had started out as only physical, but she had always cared for him. She had given him chocolates every Valentine's Day, come to check on him when he was sick, and even cleaned his weapons for him. He had always disregarded her, until he had joined the ANBU and learned what it felt like to be truly inhuman, to be truly alone. Sometimes he wondered if she had been ready that first time, but she had never refused him.

Sometime after that, she had developed the skill to read him like an open book and the short twenty minutes that he remained with her after their relations on principal, slowly became longer and longer as she found ways to entertain him. Now he came over for dinner with her family on Thursday nights, and played shogi with her in the dark. Now he purposely did things just to see her smile. When the prophesized day came when his father told Itachi he needed an heir, he would have already chosen his bride.

On Tuesdays, when Itachi was around, he came over to eat dinner with only her. Her cooking was terrible, and she loved to read. She particularly loved to read mysteries, and was always chatting about the latest plot twist in her books. Egami had a nasty habit of predicting the ending before it happened. Even at the age of 14 Egami was a true woman in appearance and personality. She listened to all his plights, not that he was much of a complainer, and she always knew when she was supposed to say something and when it was best to remain out of it. She always made the right choice.

Most importantly, Egami did whatever it took to make him feel human again, and sometimes that was asking a lot. That's why out of all the people he could have chosen to tell, he chose to tell her.

* * *

An E-ranked mission didn't exist, because anything that would meet the requirements was far too mundane to bother paying a ninja for. An X-ranked mission was the inverse of an E-rank.

X-ranked missions do not go on your record, not as a mission anyway. X-ranked missions were things you were not ever supposed to come back from. You would die in exile, your reputation slandered or you would die without a real identity during your mission. As this was the case, and you would never be paid for it, the villages that sent people on the X-ranked missions would usually allow a certain amount of money to be spent so they could prepare themselves fully for their mission. The items would be written on a receipt, the Hokage would pay for the items in question, and then everything file wise directly related to the Ninja would be burned or blacked out.

However, there was a payment for an X-ranked mission; they had set it up despite that it would never be used. The sum of money was equivalent to the value of the entire Leaf village in its current state. Even now, when the village was still recovering from war, that was a lot.

X-ranked missions usually stemmed from political tensions that were on the verge of becoming dangerous. X-ranked missions were usually performed solo. Sometimes X-ranked mission squads were derived from ninja that came from several villages, and were sent out together to strengthen a bond between villages, or to provide the absolute strongest ninja for a job.

To send a shinobi on an X-ranked mission was the worst thing a village leader could do to a ninja. You were taking their life, career, and reputation out of their hands. There was some mercy involved in this though, hence why the carrier of this burden was allowed to share it with one other person.

* * *

So on Tuesday evening, when Itachi had been given the mission to exterminate his clan, he sat quietly and took the information in with an icy countenance. The tension had been building for a very long time now, and if something wasn't done there would be another war. More than anything, Itachi did not want to see another war fall upon them.

When the pity offerings were given he had blatantly refused the items, turning on his heels and walking away. He knew he was a sacrifice, and he understood why, new shuriken would not change what he was about to do. Besides, he had other plans for dinner tonight.

Quietly, he walked the streets back to the Uchiha community, standing on the doorstep of his lover's home. Itachi knocked, irrationally hoping that something abnormal would happen tonight so that he would not have to break the routine first. As usual, Egami answered the door, giving him a modest smile and inviting him into the house.

He had not yet toed off his sandals, and yet she was already in the kitchen plating food that was sure to taste terrible. No matter what time he arrived at her home he could trust that dinner was never more than twenty minutes away. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, disgracing the ANBU uniform he wielded. He meandered his way into the kitchen, looking around at all the things he would never see again, especially the woman who made him feel alive. She was always giving smiles to people, but she appeared extra joyful whenever she cooked. He would savor this last meal, no matter what it actually tasted like.

* * *

After eating a quiet dinner Egami walked into the kitchen and began washing the dishes. While she went through the brief process of cleaning off each dish, Itachi wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close enough that he could feel her shoulder blades against his chest. After washing and drying a cup the woman turned around to face him, dripping soapy water onto his bare arms as she pulled him in for a slow, loving kiss. They usually got farther than that, but tonight his lover turned away from him again, going back to her washing.

"What's wrong, Itachi?" she asked when he craned his neck to inhale the scent of her hair for the last time. He gave a small smile, of course she noticed.

"Today, I was given a mission," Itachi started. Itachi never joked about anything. His lover began drying a plate, shifting slightly in his embrace. "The mission is to kill the entire Uchiha clan-"the woman stiffened as the plate dropped, shattering to the floor. She turned to face him, and Itachi couldn't bring himself to look her into the eyes, see the inevitable fear that would be in them. Instead, he stepped back, allowing her some space.

Sinking to the ground her shaking hands reached up to remove her hair from its bun, a signal of distress. A single wet droplet made its way onto the fabric of her yukata, and she took a shaky breath. "So things have gotten that out of hand now?"

Itachi pulled out his sword, pointing it at her face in response. When she raised her head to make eye contact, she noted the sword and gave a slow nod of acceptance. Looking at her now, shaking on the floor, he wasn't sure he could slaughter his Egami, his future bride and bearer of his children. He turned to walk away; at the very least he would not kill her first. He _couldn't_ kill her first.

There was a wet gurgling noise and a flash of movement. Blood seeped onto the floor. His sword felt heavy as the Egami's weight slowly imposed itself upon the sharpened metal.

"D-do it, Itachi," his lover gasped in pain, her eyes drooping. "If you don't we'll have another war-"she coughed, blood flicking onto his face. "Please," her shaking legs gave out as she lost consciousness. She wasn't dead yet, but she would be soon enough.

He stared, wide eyed as he pulled the sword from his lover's body. He wiped the blood off on his clothes and stared at her red stained yukata. The red pooled underneath her body. Itachi knew what he needed to do now, and he yanked the ANBU mask from where it had hung limply on his neck, throwing it on the floor. That was his only outburst before he continued on his mission. She always made the right choice; he should have been prepared for this to happen.

The beginning of his mission had been the end of her life, and the beginning of Itachi's new one.


	4. Charming

**All About Neji**

**Rating: T **

**Summary: **Neji babysits the child of a diplomat who has run from home. He finds children may have a certain charm that he neglected to see earlier.

**Prompts: **#33 on the 64 themes challenge, Charm.

* * *

Neji had to admit that this kid with all his stupid questions had some sort of charm to him. He couldn't have been more than 8, and Neji was certain the child's entire brain capacity had been overtaken by these questions. His mission from Tsunade was to babysit this child, who apparently belonged to an important diplomat and had run away from home.

Right now they were in front of the Academy, the little boy swinging on the old wooden swing out front while Neji sat underneath the shade of a tree. At least he was being relatively calm, he had not received a Naruto Uzamaki.

"How are you?" The little boy chimed in, and Neji ignored him.

"How are you?" he asked again. He proceeded to do this four times until Neji gave in.

"I'm fine," Neji sighed irritably. He wasn't good with children, but given the predicament he had been the best choice for this mission.

"How are you, really?" the small child looked up at him with wild brown hair and big blue eyes. Neji wished Lee was here, he was the only one who was good with kids on Team Gai.

"You irritate me," Neji told the kid, hoping he would stop trying to talk to him.

"What's your favorite color?" the kid asked, seeming unaffected by Neji's insult.

"It's green," Neji said.

"What's your favorite food?"

"Herring soba," said Neji.

"What's your favorite dessert?"

"I don't like sweet things," Neji said.

"How old are you?"

"Old enough," Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. The little boy never commented on any of the answers, it bothered Neji. He just kept dishing them out in some sort of free flowing stream, moving on to the next question when he answered the previous.

"What is your favorite book?" the child asked him.

"_The Water is White," _Neji said. The boy didn't even ask him what it was about, which was odd because he couldn't have known what it was.

"What as your favorite subject in school?" the boy asked curiously.

"I liked geography," Neji admitted monotonously.

"My mommy liked geography too, she used to like to travel." the boy commented. Neji briefly glanced at the child, taking careful note of his words. "Do you like music?"

"I don't listen to it often, so I don't have a favorite," Neji told the boy. He refused to encourage the child by asking questions in return.

"If you were to write a story what would you call it and what would it be about?"

"I only write poetry," Neji shrugged. "I guess I could make a book from that. I would call it Cherry Blossoms."

"Do you have a will?" Neji thought that was an odd question for and eight year old civilian to ask.

"Yes," Neji shrugged. "I don't have much to give away though, so it's very short."

"Why did you write your will?" A continuation question. Something must have caught the boy's attention.

"Because a ninja's life is dangerous, and there is a real possibility that I could die," Neji told the child. The boy likely knew the danger of dying, he was the son of a diplomat.

"What is one of the scariest things you've ever done?"

"I went on a date once," he wasn't going to corrupt the child with his dark life. That date had been the next most horrific thing that had happened to him.

"Are you married?"

"No, but one day I might be," Neji said.

"How did you meet your girlfriend?" Neji looked the boy over again, but he was swinging comfortably. He seemed contented.

"Well, I don't have girlfriend," Neji said.

"Fine then, how did you meet your lover? Don't tell me you don't have one. Most adults have at least two." The boy sounded upset now, and Neji was starting to wonder what kind of destiny had made him this way.

"Well, I only have one. We were on a mission together," Neji told him simply.

"Is it better to get married young or wait until you're older?"

"If you're going to get married as a ninja, its best to do it young." Neji explained.

"Do you have kids?"

"No."

"Do you like what you do?"

"I do," Neji sighed, staring up at the light through the tree branches.

"Have you ever thought of adopting?" Neji didn't read too much into this question, considering all his other questions had been largely random.

"No," Neji looked over at the boy, who no longer seemed contented. "Come on, I'll take you out for lunch. Anything you want," Neji looked to the boy.

"Can we have dango? My mommy used to like dango," Neji stood slowly and nodded,

"Yeah, follow me." The boy followed him through the streets.

"When people kill themselves do they go to heaven?"

"It depends on if their death was honorable," that's what Neji had always been taught.

"What if your death is not honorable?"

"Then I suppose you'd go to hell," Neji was unsure what was so interesting to the boy this time. The boy was _too _interested in this topic.

"Do you want to go to heaven or hell?"

"I'd prefer to go to heaven," seating the boy at the dango shop Neji dismissively ordered some food for the boy.

"Are there things that make you really happy?" the boy moved on.

"I like birds," Neji said. He was starting to think the kid was actually taking something from the answers to the questions. Maybe they were all continuation questions and the boy was trying to get to some sort of point. He wished the kid would hurry it up already.

"Do you plan things out in detail?" Couldn't they have put this kid with someone from the Torture and Interrogation squad?

"Usually yes," Neji told the boy as the shopkeeper set the dango in front of the boys and the child went about eating it.

"Do you like spicy food?"

"No," Neji told him.

"Do you have siblings?" asked the boy.

"No, but I have cousins," Neji said.

"Are they mean to you?"

"No," Neji answered.

"What do you like least about yourself?"

"I'm not going to answer that one," Neji told the boy. How long was he supposed to have this child? It was just like Tsunade to not tell him about something as important as that.

"I think I want to go to hell," the boy told Neji, eating his dango like nothing was wrong. Neji debated on giving in and asking a question of the boy. "If you were unhappy would you kill yourself?"

"No," Neji had been unhappy for many years of his life. He had never thought of suicide. "Why do you want to go to hell?" He caved.

"Because I want to see my mom again," the boy said earnestly, his dango finished. Suddenly it all made sense to Neji. He also became aware that the shopkeeper was giving them terrified looks and he picked up the boy to carry him away from the dango shop.

Neji quickly set him down once they were sufficiently away from the shop. He was walking towards the home of Hyuga head, knowing that it was usually training time- and that he would be able to speak more privately there. It took them no more than a few minutes to arrive at the extravagant courtyard of the Hyuga head family where Neji and Hiashi trained often.

"Neji-san, I had heard you had a mission- who's this?" Hiashi stepped out, and the young boy leaned closer to Neji. Actually, Neji was rather surprised; the boy hadn't seemed shy before. He wished again that Lee was here, as children (especially young boys) always seemed to be attracted to his exuberant attitude.

"I am Ishihara Daiyu, of the Ishihara family from the Land of Water," the boy had straightened up again, introducing himself formally. It was what Neji would expect of the son of a high-ranking family. It was rather endearing and mildly comical to see the boy's round innocent face so very serious.

"I am to care for him until his father arrives to return him to his home. However, I was hoping that you would be so kind as to allow me to speak to him in private before our training session, sensei?" Neji asked hopefully.

"Of course, I'll have Hinata prepare some tea while I wait." Hiashi nodded respectfully before leaving them.

"Why did you run away?" Neji had a sinking suspicion he knew the answer. He only became more certain when the boy started tearing up before he even really said anything. The kid had been holding back and hiding his reactions from himself, apparently no one had really bothered to straight out ask Neji's question before.

"I was scared!" the boy suddenly clung to Neji's shirt, dribbling snot into the fabric. Neji knew he shouldn't have allowed the boy to grow on him so, but he had. Now even the little boy's tears charmed Neji, causing him to pull the boy into his lap and rock him lightly, hoping the child would continue. "I woke up and I called out- and nobody was there."

"So you got out of bed-" Neji tried to coax the boy into continuing his story.

"And I went to find my nanny, but she wasn't there. So, I went to find mommy and-" the boy burst into tears again and Neji found himself tightening his arms around the boy.

"I know," Neji crooned. "I know." Maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all.


	5. Ignorance is Bliss

**Ignorance is Bliss**

**Rated: K+**

**Prompt: **64 Themes Challenge, #1:2 A.M.

**Summary: **A drabble featuring Ebisu in a darker sense.

This was Ebisu's favorite time of day: 2 AM. The world was dark and no one was around. He was free from the plague of expectations the world placed on his shoulders. If he hit the shochu harder than he should and avoided sleeping most of the night nobody cared. The only consequence to his nightly activities was the need to wear dark glasses in order to get on with his life. His hangover became tolerable and no one questioned his dark circles or bloodshot eyes. If nobody knew, no one could care. He wanted to keep it that way.


	6. Shino-Bee

**Rating: **K

**Prompts: **64 Themes challenge #49, Adore.

Aburame Shibi was the only man in the entire village who had to seek an outside babysitter for his son. Most people had relatives watch the child, but young Shino had been excluded from this privilege due to the clan's firm belief that children needed both a mother and a father. At the end of the day though Shibi was glad he had found an outside babysitter, she was so much better at raising his child than he was. This was despite being a good five years younger.

He arrived at the young woman's home where she lived with her "special friend" to find her sprawled on her stomach playing with a line of rubber ducks. Shino was chewing on one while the freckled young woman occupied the boy's vision by making the ducks move around, accompanied by loud sound effects to capture his attention.

Smiling Shibi entered in through the unlocked door and his son looked up immediately to lunge for his father, only to fall over. The young woman tucked a lock of short brown hair behind her ears, rolled into an upright position, and lifted Shino up so he could lunge again- this time into his father's arms. Shibi pulled the boy a little closer than he should have- appreciating the smell of his son, and growing accustomed to his now larger size. You think it would hurt less, being gone for a time and knowing your son gets bigger and grows while you're away- but it doesn't.

A noise of discontentment from the baby boy- who was nude except for a diaper- caused Shibi to pull back so his son could sit upright in his arms and look around.

"Shino-bee…" the young woman trailed, waving a rubber duck to get his attention. It worked too, and he reached out for the duck, which the young woman promptly handed to him. "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

"Shino-bee!" Shino yelled loudly, yanking the rubber duck from its new spot in his mouth to say the words. Drool drizzled onto Shibi's arms and Shibi was suddenly thankful for the dark glasses that covered his watering eyes. His first word and it wasn't something along the lines of "mother" or "father". While he was so proud of his son for his first word he was sure that his choice of word said something about the way he was being raised- it really was affecting his son.

"Right-" Shibi pulled himself together enough to fish the wallet out of his uniform. The babysitter placed Shino's diaper bag on his shoulder while Shibi one-handedly opened up his wallet and removed the proper amount of money. He felt bad for not having set an official price for her babysitting, as his payments varied between her getting paid almost nothing, and her being paid very well. It usually just depended on what kind of money he had in his wallet at the time- but the young woman had never minded.

"Bye-Bye guys!" the young woman waved enthusiastically to the child as the walked out the door, the infant twisted in his arms to look back at his babysitting and Shibi looked over his shoulder in time to realize that his son was waving good-bye to the babysitter as well. Damn, Shibi's eyes were watering again. He pushed away the smile on his face as he walked out into the open with his baby in his arms.

He adored his son.


	7. And You Missed A Few

**Rating: K+**

**Prompts:** Write an all dialogue fic. This is more of a warm-up. I'm hoping to write a much longer one once I find the motivation to do so.

"Ibiki-san? Are you feeling better now? I'm sorry we had to put you outside, we don't have any space and you were just sedated so-."

"It's fine Rin. It's Rin right? Nohara Rin…I heard someone asking about you."

"Already taken care of. He's off with someone else now…Are you alright?"

"I'm pretty sure the staff just gave me whatever was on hand…is the village alright?"

"They're letting the ash calm a bit. People are sifting through their homes. Almost all of the fires have been put out."

"You don't need to sound so jealous of the other girl. It's probably nothing, and if it is something the other one is probably the most amazing woman in the world."

"Way to boost my self-esteem. Anyway, I'm not jealous. He's just my teammate. You still haven't answered my question, are you _alright?"_

"I killed my comrade."

"You didn't kill your comrade. It wasn't your fault."

"And I killed a lot of other people bringing those two boys into the hospital."

"What do you mean?"

"Follow me. Do you have time?"

"The hospital staff has been urging me to take a break. We won't be able to go into any of the buildings, but we can stand outside."

"Right here. What do you smell?"

"I smell lavender…and what is that?"

"That is the smell of burning flesh."

"No it's not. I work at a hospital, I know what burning flesh smells like. That can't be it."

"This is real burning flesh. The flesh that is inside, not the epidermis, not mixed with the smell of burnt hairs anymore, because that's long gone."

"I still don't understand…"

"It was my job to check the buildings and clear out any leftover people within them."

"Oh god…"


	8. Orange Winged Angel

**Orange-Winged Angel**

**Rating: M **

**Summary: **Kakashi visits the memorial stone, this time to speak with Rin. He explicitly comes to visit Obito, but never Rin. His problem is that he never knows what to say, and even now he's talking about Obito.

**Prompts: **64 Themes Challenge #2 Metaphor. Also: Write a story, but every scene or paragraph, it has to be more dramatic, or angsty, or romancy or whatever genre you decide to write.

_He is an angel. _

"Angels are depicted in billowing pale kimonos with smooth skin and pure white wings with shining golden halos floating above their heads and a radiant glow around their entire person. Some angels look exactly like the depictions, others don't. All angels have halos and wings, but most people are blind to that. Not every angel has white wings. All angels glow to varying degrees of brightness but equal degrees of potency.

People see but they do not observe, and they can't see what is underneath the underneath. What makes an angel an angel is their core. Angels are not always modest and pure, but all angels are secretly wise to the obvious truths that seem to evade normal people." Kakashi rested his head against the stone as if the person whose name was carved into the rock would somehow be able to materialize and embrace his faded soul.

"Rin, do you remember that time when you asked if I believed in anything supernatural? Obito had been going on about the Onbaa. Obito was angry with me because I was rather rude about it," Kakashi chuckled darkly.

"I told you I believed in nothing but the ninja code. I was wrong. I believe in angels, the fleeting guardians of all truly good emotions. The kind that bring you home when home feels like it no longer exists. Angels never stay in one place for long, because they have a job bigger than any of us. They brave life with a smile, and spread love when the world is overfilled with hate. They bring their bright light to the darkest corners of the world, and with it they bring hope, and joy. Their one true mission is to bring peace.

Angels are not pacifists. The angel's I've known have all been shinobi. Angels only protect the truly important feelings and conditions, egotistical mania and stupidity not being one of them. And of course Iwagakure ninja just deserved to be slaughtered," Kakashi smirked underneath his mask, waiting for a moment in the thick and unabateing silence before continuing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, too fickle. I have a terrible sense of humor"

"I'm not sure why I keep trying to make jokes with you Rin. It's just been far too long since I've seen you smile." Kakashi's hands brushed over the kanji on the stone, declaring Rin a KIA hero. He wished she would come back, and save his sorry soul, the one which had the density of lead and was slowly sinking deeper into the earth with each mission. It would get to hell eventually, find it before Kakashi even managed to really die. Early admission to hell is just the price of becoming a true shinobi he supposed.

"I'm still not worthy of my place in life, but I'm working on it. I will become worthy, and this is step twelve of a one-thousand step process, but _I will_ get there. Our angel had a halo that was visible even before he became a genin, and his glow was brighter than the sun. Can you believe we were stupid enough to lose our sun? The celestial body that we orbited around, the one that made us function?" Kakashi shut his eyes tightly to fight against the world pushing in on him, the guilt that he had burdened himself with long ago. He had to tell her though, to tell _him_.

"Don't act so surprised, it's no wonder we never worked. Not that that I ever could have loved you after what you did, but we were always just satellites, me and you around his glow and his halo. His halo was almost as bright as his general radiance. What kind of ninja is late for missions because he was helping old ladies carry their groceries? He was a terrible shinobi, but terrible shinobi make great battlefield angels. I never would have thought an Uchiha would be an angel, but there you have it." The silence settled in again as Kakashi's chest tightened at his own words and for a few moments he couldn't breathe. It took him several minutes to be able to speak again.

"Our angel's wings would have been bright orange, like his goggles, and like the sun. I killed an angel Rin. A fucking _angel_ and I don't understand how you could have loved me when there was a winged creature of light chasing after your affections. Regardless, I never could have loved you anyway, and I'm so, so sorry." Kakashi took two fingers and pushed the edge of his headband up and down over his right eye, rubbing away the tears welling there. "I'm also sorry that it took another angel to show me all of these things, and I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long. Ijust- I never knew what to say. I'm sorry I ripped off our angel's wings before he ever had the chance to fly, and I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"He was an angel Rin. It's not a metaphor, it's a fact. Uchiha Obito was an angel and I killed him, and I ruined us, and I'm so, so sorry." Kakashi's breath hissed against the tears that were threatening to fall and he couldn't tell if they were made of blood or water. He never really knew anymore, but he had made the choice not tell anyone of his hallucinations. Like they had many years ago, and like they probably always would, Konohagakure needed him and he wasn't going to stop being of use because he occasionally couldn't tell the difference between blood and water.

The two substances were equally abundant in his line of work. What did it matter?


	9. Scar Tissue

**AN: Because writing angsty one-shots is more enjoyable than reading ****_Ghengis Khan_****. **

**Rating:** K+

**Genre:** Angst

**Prompt:** 64 Themes #25 Acid.

Raidou would never forget the acid that had burned his face. Not the pain, though it had been a new sensation, a burning, melting agony. The pain had faded now into adjectives in his mind, and while he could remember it being the worst pain of his life he had lost the ability to relive that pain long ago. He could even forget the color of his teammates' faces when they saw him, the pale green like limestone.

Raidou had forgotten the way his face looked when he saw his reflection in a mirror for the first time. He no longer gaped like a fish when he saw what he looked like. What he couldn't forget was the gut reaction of shame he felt when he saw himself. No matter how hard he tried to avoid all reflective surfaces he would end up looking into the blade of his kunai or out a bright window, and he would see his mutated countenance.

Sometimes he would look on purpose, because someone would tell him he looked sad. When he looked he couldn't see the emotion on his face, he could only see the scarring. He had been handsome once, his face expressive with emotion. Now all there was was thick and irregular scar tissue.


	10. Bright

**Rating: **K

**Summary: **Maito Gai's personality is heavily influenced by his parents.

**Prompt: **64 Themes Challenge #60-Bright.

* * *

Maito Gai's mother had always been a very bright sort of woman. She was always smiling and always encouraging her son to be the best he could be. She took very good care of him, drilling in personal hygiene habits at a young age. She always made sure the house was filled with many bright colors regardless of whether or not they clashed- presumably to try and cheer up her husband.

His father had always been very dim- like he had lost all the life in him a long time ago. He spoke of all the things he was going to do, and how he wished he had pushed himself harder, how youth was a powerful thing. He had never been a genius, instead he had his skills from what effort he put into his training- and it wasn't enough.

Not that many people were aware of the Maito family's existence. They were not a prominent clan- though at some point in history long ago they may have been. If that were the case though nobody had bothered to write it down, likely because they were a very quiet family and had never made much of a fuss over anything.

Nobody except for Gai seemed surprised when his father died in battle. He remembered how much it had bothered him that his mother had never cried- had never even let her voice crack when his father passed away. It hadn't occurred to him until long after that she had been protecting him.

What his mother did do though was become 1000 times brighter than she already was, constantly acting as if the world was made up entirely of bubbles and rainbows and sunshine. Before she had been optimistic- now it was overkill. Regardless, as a young boy Gai had latched on to the powerful way used her words- the same way young children latch onto swears. He had latched on to her ridiculous levels of optimism and applied them into his own life.

So really, Gai's personality made a lot of sense.


	11. Overexaggerating

**Title:** Overexaggerating

**Summary: **Kiba made a big mistake

**Rating: **K+

**Genre: **Humor

**Warning: **This phrase should not be used as an everyday phrase. If you ever say it to a girl do not be surprised if you end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

* * *

Hinata walked cautiously into the hospital room with a basket of fruit. She had heard Kiba had finally woken up. "K-Kiba-kun? Can I come in?" she asked.

"Ugh, my head hurts," Kiba groaned before motioning Hinata over. "Is that fruit for me? Thanks!" Kiba smiled at her and Hinata instantly flushed red before handing it over. Kiba began eating an apple, finding out now that he was ravenously hungry.

"I'm sorry," Hinata murmured to him.

"Wait…what happened?" Kiba looked up to her suddenly. He couldn't really recall how he got into the hospital in the first place.

* * *

Team 8 and team 10 had met up for dinner before the spring festival. Or rather, the girls of team 8 and 10 (which really means Ino) had decided to make a big thing of the spring festival, and had dragged the boys along with them, using this meal as part of the bait.

Settling down at the table while they waited for the boys (they were surprised too, it was usually the other way around) Ino gushed to Hinata about how cute Asuma and Kurenai looked chatting at a small table in the corner of the restaurant. Then Ino suddenly asked "hey, Hinata? Do you have a tampon I could use?"

Hinata looked horrified, and she blushed and looked away before discreetly handing Ino one under the table. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver," Ino then sauntered off to the restroom leaving Hinata to try and calm her blush.

When Ino returned she dramatically rested her chin in her hand. "Periods really suck don't they?" This caused Hinata's blush to return, they spent almost all their time with boys, nobody ever talked about periods.

"Uh y-yeah," Hinata whispered trying to avoid meeting Ino's gaze.

That's when all the boys entered, filling up the remaining space at the table. Shikamaru and Shino sat across from each other, Shino remaining silent while Shikamaru commented on how irritating this outing was. Choji instantly ordered food, not really caring about the conversation.

"Periods can't be that bad, you're just over exaggerating," Kiba brushed off the girls' conversation.

It was Hinata who punched him in the face, effectively ending their outing.

* * *

"A-ah, nothing Kiba-kun," Hinata quickly walked out of the room before Kiba could further question her.


End file.
